Tuesday, April 26, 2005

TONGUE TIED.

It has happened again. I’ve just had a five-minute conversation in Spanish, without knowing what the hell we talked about.

This time it was with Sonia—the woman who owns the beauty salon in downtown Cabanillas del Campo. She snagged me as I passed her storefront, en route to Bar Gema for a café con leche. This much I know—she wanted me to relay a message to my wife regarding a scheduled massage. But that’s all I know.

Our conversation went—more or less— as follows:

Sonia:Tikkity takkity tikkity takkity your wife’s massage tikkity takkity tik.Sal:How pretty they are the large red bird that she flies across the pretty blue sky that is here in this day of very sunny and hot temperature in our town today.Sonia:Tikkity takkity tikkity takkity so please tell her what I said tikkity takkity tik.Sal:It is him, how do I say it, that the pretty green telephone takes for herself a very big bowl of potatoes.Sonia:Great! Thanks, Sal! See you later!

At least, that’s how my brain processed the conversation. I can’t speak for Sonia, however. She seemed—much to my surprise—thoroughly satisfied with the outcome of our chat. She smiled appreciably and displayed none of the eye-rolling or tongue-clicking to which I’ve grown accustomed during past flirtations with conversational Spanish. Perhaps I unwittingly complemented her on her clarity of skin and firmness of thigh.

Anyway…the point of this tale is to illustrate that, after five years of total immersion, my Spanish-language skills remain almost as bad as those of President Bush.

I used to joke about this. When people would ask how my Spanish was progressing, I’d say, “Right on schedule! I’ve lived here for five years, and speak Spanish like a five year-old.”

But alas, the joke is on me. And humiliation has come from a most unexpected source: my two year old daughter, Inés.

For the past month, Inés has been giving ME vocabulary lessons. I knew this would eventually happen—but not so soon! The first hint of my impending doom came during a recent trip to Cantabria. We were hiking along a muddy trail, when the following conversation ensued:

Inés:Papá! I want to play in the charco.Sal [whispering to wife]: What’s a “charco?”Wife:It’s a puddle. You might also be interested to know that “hola” means hello and “adiós” means good-bye.

But the humiliation hasn’t ended with vocabulary. Inés’s mastery of Spanish grammar—including verb tenses and reflexive pronouns—surpassed mine around the time that she graduated from diapers to underpants.

Such is my dilemma. But what is the solution? My wife and I have slightly different opinions on how to address my linguistic shortcomings.

Hers is that I should enroll in Conversational Spanish lessons at a nearby language school, and also participate in our local library’s Spanish-language reading group.

Mine is that I should give up.

And Inés’s? Well…she told me her opinion last night during dinner. But to be honest, most of it went over my head.

Oh my god. So funny. And it brought back horrifying memories of my recent two quarters of Spanish under the tutelage of the Paragayan profesora from Hell. She could give your daughter a run for her money.

At least you have the excuse of a bad profesora. What's mine? I've lived for five years in a place where 90% of the population speaks only two words of English--and those two words are "Coca Cola." Yet my only area of Spanish-language fluency is food/drink Spanish.

In this respect, I guess I'm kind of an "idiot savant" Although many would dispute the "savant" part.

Amigo, I feel your pain. I've been in France for 2 1/2 yrs and sometimes I feel as though I just got off the boat. The good part is that as soon as I'm out of the country and I hear French I realize I know it. (or at least a bit of if). Don't give up!a bientot

Thanks for your empathy. My wife, however, would argue that I don't deserve it...because my poor Spanish is a self-inflicted wound. I don't get out and converse enough with the natives.

Of course, my counter-argument is that I don't talk much in English either (DUH!!! That's why I'm a writer!).

Anyway...whatever frustration I feel, must be 100 times worse for you. Spanish is a relatively clear language (to the ear, that is) compared with French. I hear "tikkity takkity tik." You hear "shooshitty shishitty shoosh."

Oh well...at least we both live in countries that have good wine. In the end, that's the important thing.

The comparison with French is illustrative. It's hard to find an easier language than Spanish. So, you're lucky, in the end. You don't understand people simply because they talk too fast, but it is nothing structural. I mean, Spanish is not ununderstandable by definition. Some other languages are. French, sometimes; London cab-driver (so called) English...

some people can pick up languages and some can't. those who can don't understand how the others just hear a load of verbal... try living on Mallorca - if you try speaking castillano you upset the catalanes. if you try speaking catala you upset the Mallorquines. if you try speaking Mallorquin you upset the Spanish. they all sound like machine-gun fire anyway, so just go with the flow - it will come eventually - I hope....